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+ + + In Nomine Jesu + + +
Please join me in prayer: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Pregnant women and their unborn children are, by many in today’s societies, poorly regarded and altogether dismissed. For example, an employer may look at a pregnant woman and see someone who is going to cost the company time and money, and doctors and lawyers may describe an unborn child as nothing more than a mass of cells that, as the woman sees fit, can be removed from her body. Population control, family planning, and contraceptive services can seem to have laudable goals and be supported by otherwise-worthwhile organizations. Quite a contrast is today’s Gospel Reading for the Fourth Sunday in Advent, in which the pregnant Virgin Mary and her unborn baby, Jesus, “visit” her pregnant relative Elizabeth and her unborn baby, John the Baptizer (confer Luke 1:36, 78). Two in-many-ways-seemingly-unremarkable women visited together in a town in Judah, the name of which the Divinely-inspired St. Luke in his unique report does not even record, but there is so much more going on there than first meets the eye or ear. With all due respect to the man who draws the images that we use on our bulletin covers and to other artists like him, and understanding the concept of and the need for some artistic license, we should note that, while Elizabeth was in the sixth month or her pregnancy with John the Baptizer, Mary may have still been in the first week of her pregnancy with Jesus, and so her pregnancy with Jesus was likely not yet showing. But, as Mary greeted Elizabeth, led by the Holy Spirit (confer Luke 1:15), Elizabeth and the unborn John recognized both that Mary was pregnant and that the unborn Jesus was the Lord, and so they rejoiced. Considering today’s Gospel Reading this morning, we realize that “Even the Unborn Lord brings joy”.
The Greek word that Luke and Elizabeth used to refer to the unborn John is used to refer both to an un-born baby and to a new-born baby, just as we might refer to a child as a “baby” both inside of the womb and outside of the womb. God creates life when an egg is fertilized, even before the fertilized egg is implanted, and that life is materially and spiritually no different inside or outside of the womb. Of course, not everyone has that Biblical, view around the world or in this country. For example, in the United States, more than 62-million children have been murdered by abortion since the U-S Supreme Court legalized abortion in 19-73 with its landmark ruling in Roe v. Wade (LifeNews). Just for comparison, that number of more than 62-million aborted babies is well more than both the more than the 50‑million Americans thought to have contracted the coronavirus and the less than two-percent of those, or more than 800‑thousand Americans, thought to have died from the caronavirus (CDC). While reducing the number of abortion providers can reduce the number of abortions, in recent years a greater percentage of abortions has been caused by ingesting chemicals (LifeNews), such as those chemicals that the U-S Food and Drug Administration just this past week said could continue to be distributed by mail (NPR).
Neither Elizabeth and her husband Zechariah nor Mary and her fiancé Joseph (Luke 1:27; 2:5) at this point had “planned parenthood”. Zechariah and Elizabeth were old (Luke 1:18), and Mary and Joseph had not yet had a sexual relationship (Luke 1:34). In some ways both couples had “crisis pregnancies”, and, when Mary was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit, Joseph could have had Mary stoned for adultery and the baby effectively aborted (Deuteronomy 22:23‑24), but he did not, instead, at the Lord’s direction, Joseph took Mary as his wife and served as Jesus’s guardian (Matthew 1:18-25; 2:13, 19). Whether or not we have a poor regard for pregnant women or altogether dismiss unborn children, we may have stunted the growth of the Church by the use of contraceptives, and we certainly sin in countless other, sometimes unspeakable, ways. As Elizabeth seemingly spoke of her unworthiness for even the mother of the Lord to visit her, and as Mary rejoiced in God her Savior, so led by the Holy Spirit we confess our unworthiness of being in God’s presence and rejoice that God saves us by grace through faith in His Son Jesus Christ.
As we heard in today’s Old Testament Reading (Micah 5:2-5a), that salvation would come from the royal line of David, dead in Jerusalem but still alive in Bethlehem, though the Ruler also would have come forth from of old, from ancient days, God Himself (Daniel 7:9, 13, 22). And, that salvation would come when she who was in labor had given birth (confer Isaiah 7:14), and the Ruler would stand and shepherd His flock in the strength of the Lord, and they would dwell secure, and He would be their peace. That prophecy was fulfilled as the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity took on human flesh in womb of the Virgin Mary, and later to shepherds was announced (Luke 2:8-20) the birth of the Good Shepherd, Who still later laid down His life for His sheep and then took it back up again (John 10:1-30). As we heard in today’s Epistle Reading (Hebrews 10:5-10, in part citing Psalm 40:6-8), the Christ came into the world in a body prepared for Him and did the will of His Father by offering that body once and for all on the cross. So, when we repent of our sin, then God forgives us. In words of the Collect of the Day, by God’s grace and mercy, His might quickly lifts the sins that weigh us down.
God quickly lifts the sins that weigh us down through His Word, including His Sacraments. God’s Word figures prominently both in Gabriel’s announcing Jesus’s birth to Mary (Luke 1:26-38) and in Elizabeth’s, as it were, confirming Gabriel’s message. They only knew and understood what was happening by God’s revealing it to them. As the Spirit led Elizabeth to believe that the Lord came to her in the womb of Mary, so the Spirit leads us to recognize the Lord as He comes to us: in the water of Holy Baptism, the touch of Holy Absolution, and the bread and wine of Holy Communion that are the Body of Christ given for us and the Blood of Christ shed for us, and so forgive our sins and thereby give us life and salvation. Certainly the reading and preaching of the Word is for even the babies inside of the womb, and certainly at least Holy Baptism is for the babies outside of the womb, babies who can and do believe in Jesus by the working of God, which is how any of us can and do believe in Jesus (confer Luke 18:15‑17; Matthew 18:1-6).
The unborn John the Baptizer leaped for joy at Jesus’s presence, and the joy was not because they were going to have a play day, but John leaped for joy because he knew Jesus was his Savior. We, who are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all, also rejoice in Jesus’s presence. He is our peace with God, and that peace with God lets us be at peace with ourselves and at peace with one another, and that peace with God lets us rejoice no matter what comes. To be sure, not every unplanned pregnancy is like the unplanned pregnancies of the Gospel Reading, not every pregnant woman is the Virgin Mary or her relative Elizabeth, and not every unborn child is Jesus or John the Baptizer. But, every life is valuable to God: through our parents created by Him, at least objectively redeemed by Him, and at least able to be sanctified by Him. And, God is able to work together all things, including crisis pregnancies, for the good of conforming us who love Him to the image of His Son, that that Son might be the firstborn among many brothers (Romans 8:28-29).
Considering the Gospel Reading this morning, we have realized that “Even the Unborn Lord brings joy”. For, He is born, lives, dies, and rises again to save all people from their sins. Even though we may poorly regard pregnant women and altogether dismiss their unborn children, and though we certainly sin in other ways and so by nature deserve temporal and eternal death, when we repent and believe, then God saves us. God gives great value to all people, and we do likewise. Our season of Advent expectation is quickly drawing to a close as we continue our repentant preparation for the coming celebration of the Christ’s birth in human flesh, for His coming to us now through Word and Sacrament, and for His final coming in glory. With the Church of all times and places, we say, “Amen! Come, Lord Jesus!” (Revelation 22:20).
Amen.
The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
+ + + Soli Deo Gloria + + +